Bearing the penalty of our sins on the cross of death, Jesus shed His lifeblood in seven different places. Sacrificing Himself, His spilled blood released you and me back to life as it was before the fall, when God’s every blessing was available to Adam and Eve.
The first Adam lost control over God’s kingdom in the Garden of Eden because he failed to bend his will to the will of God. Mankind’s greatest battle is God’s will over my will. In another garden, the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus sweated drops of blood in an agony of spirit, praying “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours be done.” Jesus won back our willpower, our ability to choose God’s perfect will and resist temptation.
Then Pilate took Jesus and scourged Him. Blood streamed from the stripes inflicted at the whipping post, the cruelest punishment imaginable, with a “cat of nine tails” that tore His flesh to the bone. “But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement for our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.” Jesus has won back our health…His body was broken so ours could be made whole.
Beaten and bruised on the outside, Jesus bled under His skin for our iniquity (inherited weakness). We have all suffered emotional losses, that part of us which is “the inner man.” We hurt from the sin that our forefathers passed down to us. Jesus was wounded for our sins and bruised for our iniquities, and because He was bruised, we can be healed from the inside out.
Soldiers in the Praetorium placed a crown of thorns on Jesus’ head, spilling blood into His eyes and down His face. When Adam joined Eve and ate of the forbidden tree, God cursed the ground for their disobedience: “In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread until you return to the ground.” Thorns and thistles emerged, choking out the good seed, causing mankind to work by the sweat of the brow, right down to our generation today. Jesus shed his blood to break God’s curse over the land.
His hands were pierced. God had placed all dominion and authority in the hands of Adam and Eve. Sin caused them to lose that. As the nails pierced Jesus’ hands on the cross, His blood flowed and mankind’s dominion and authority were redeemed. We can lay hold of what belongs to us in the name of Jesus, taking back that which was stolen in Eden.
Jesus’ feet were pierced. God promised the children of Israel that if they would heed His commandments, “Every place the soles of your feet shall tread shall be yours.” Blood flowed from His pierced feet, soaking the ground below, and we were given the ability to plunder satan’s territory, binding him in the name of Jesus, and by the authority of His blood. We can take dominion over our territory, our homes and our families. We can take our cities back and regain for God all that the enemy has plundered.
His side was pierced. Sin caused mankind to suffer when the enemy broke our hearts. The Roman thrust his spear into Jesus’ side, and blood and water poured down, drenching the soil at the base of His cross. Jesus knew what it was to have a broken heart. He was betrayed by Judas, rejected by the multitude and hung naked before His mother on a brutal cross. Worst of all, He suffered abandonment by the Father Himself. “My God, My God, why have You forsaken me?” Blood and water drained the life from Jesus in the agony of His grief. Our joy in the Lord is stolen when our hearts are broken. Jesus said, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; He sent me to heal the brokenhearted.” His blood was freely given to heal our broken hearts, walk in the joy of the Lord, and live strong and safe in His keeping.
In the Garden of Eden, God opened Adam’s side, took out a rib, and created for Adam a wife. When Jesus’ side was opened on the cross, God created His bride, the church! His blood was shed to redeem our souls, to redeem our image, and to redeem our minds. His blood was shed for healing and for our work and for our earthly walk. And the precious blood of Jesus was shed so that you and I could be born again.
One more thought. The Holy Spirit initiated Jesus’ conception. He anointed Jesus and led Him throughout His earthly walk, spoke through Him, gave Him the power to endure, and then raised Him from the dead! Drop after drop Jesus bled: in Gethsemane, as He stood before Caiaphas the high priest, in the Praetorium at Pontius Pilate’s house, on His tortured walk to Golgotha through the streets of Jerusalem, drop by drop covering that old rugged cross, and soaking the earth on that hill of death. Hebrews 9:12 tells us that Jesus entered Heaven with His own blood. How was it possible for that sin-free, untainted blood to have been collected, every drop from where it fell? The Holy Spirit collected each treasured drop and offered it before the throne of God to pay once for all the penalty for your sins and mine. The Lord’s presence indwells His people through the Holy Spirit because of the blood!
All glory to Jesus! Amen.